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Five Leaves Left

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Untitled

Five Leaves Left is the debut studio album by English folk musician Nick Drake. Recorded between 1968 and 1969, it was released the latter year by record label Island.

Recording

Five Leaves Left was recorded between July 1968 and June 1969 at Sound Techniques in London, England. Engineer John Wood recalled that "[Drake] would track live, singing and playing along with the string section" without the use of any overdubbing. For the song River Man, producer Joe Boyd described Drake playing on a stool in the center of the studio while surrounded by a semi-circle of instruments. The studio's environment was also an important factor as it had multiple levels to it which enabled the creation of interesting sounds and atmospheres.[1][4]

Among his various backing musicians, Drake was accompanied by Richard Thompson from Fairport Convention and Danny Thompson of Pentangle. Robert Kirby, a friend of Drake's from his youth, arranged the string instruments for several tracks while Harry Robinson arranged the strings for River Man.[5]

Content

Like Bryter Layter but unlike Pink Moon, this album contains no unaccompanied songs.

The title of the album is a reference to the old Rizla cigarette papers packet, which used to contain a printed note near the end saying "Only five leaves left".[6] The album title could also be a reference to an O. Henry short story entitled "The Last Leaf".[citation needed] Drake died five years after recording the album.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
BBC Musicfavourable[8]
Entertainment WeeklyA[9]
Pitchfork9.5/10[10]
Sputnikmusic[11]

Until the 1990s Drake's albums had been critically and popularly ignored. [4][5] By the 1990s, though, Drake and Five Leaves Left begun to be reassessed more closely. Q cited it as "The pinnacle of a melancholy canon of work so distinctive that admirers can only speculate miserably on what might have been."[12] Alternative Press called it "[one] of the most beautiful and melancholy albums ever recorded."[13] A 2007 review by Chris Jones said "it's hard not to be still floored by the beauty of [Drake's] first album" and lauded its "unique vision" mixing elements of English folk music and jazz.[5]

Legacy

Five Leaves Left was ranked 85th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 280 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. NME ranked it at number 74 in their list.[14] Q magazine included the album in its list "Best Folk Albums of All Time".

Track listing

All tracks are written by Nick Drake

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Time Has Told Me"4:27
2."River Man"4:21
3."Three Hours"6:16
4."Way to Blue"3:11
5."Day Is Done"2:29
Side B
No.TitleLength
6."'Cello Song"4:49
7."The Thoughts of Mary Jane"3:22
8."Man in a Shed"3:55
9."Fruit Tree"4:50
10."Saturday Sun"4:03

Personnel

Nick Drake performs vocals and acoustic guitar, except where indicated otherwise.

  • "Time Has Told Me"
    Paul Harris – piano
    Richard Thompson – electric guitar
    Danny Thompson – double bass
  • "River Man"
    Danny Thompson - double bass
    Harry Robinson – string arrangement
  • "Three Hours"
    Danny Thompson - double bass
    Rocky Dzidzornu – congas
  • "Way to Blue"
    Nick Drake - vocals
    Robert Kirby – string arrangement
  • "Day is Done"
    Robert Kirby - string arrangement
  • "'Cello Song"
    Danny Thompson - double bass
    Rocky Dzidzornu - congas, shaker
    Clare Lowther – cello
  • "Thoughts of Mary Jane"
    Robert Kirby - string arrangement
    uncredited - flute
  • "Man in a Shed"
    Paul Harris - piano
    Danny Thompson - double bass
  • "Fruit Tree"
    Robert Kirby - string arrangement
    uncredited - oboe, bass oboe and English horn
  • "Saturday Sun"
    Nick Drake - vocals, piano
    Danny Thompson - double bass
    Tristan Fry – drums and vibraphone

Technical

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalogue
United Kingdom 3 July 1969 Island LP ILPS 9105
March 1987 CD CID 9195
26 June 2000 IMCD 8

References

  1. ^ a b Drake, Gabrielle, Nick Drake: Remembered For A While, Little, Brown and Company, 2014.
  2. ^ "20 Best Folk Music Albums of All Time". NME. Time Inc. UK. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  3. ^ Drake, Gabrielle, Nick Drake: Remembered For A While, Little, Brown and Company, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Touzeau, Jeff (3 March 2008). "Lost Boy". Electronic Musician.
  5. ^ a b c Jones, Chris (2007). "Review of Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left". BBC News.
  6. ^ "Five Leaves Left - Nick Drake". www.nickdrake.com. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  7. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Five Leaves Left - Nick Drake: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards: AllMusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  8. ^ Jones, Chris. "BBC - Music - Review of Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left". BBC. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  9. ^ Entertainment Weekly: 24. 12 May 2000. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ^ Greene, Jayson (22 January 2014). "Nick Drake: Tuck Box: Album Reviews: Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  11. ^ Schroer, Brendan (7 November 2013). "Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (album review): Sputnikmusic". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  12. ^ Q: 162. November 1999. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ^ Alternative Press: 88. March 2001. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ^ NME: 29. 2 October 1993. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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